Alden Nowlan once wrote of a desire to leave behind "one poem, one story / that will tell what it was like / to be alive." In an abundance of memorable poems, he fulfuilled this desire, with cancour and subtlety, emotion and humour, sympathy and truth-telling.

HIs range is remarkable. Nowlan's poems take us from nightmarish precincts of fear and solitude to the embrace of friendship and family. The visual shaping of his poems, his handling of line-lengths, stanzas, and pauses demonstrate an uncanny skill in suggesting and embodying the rhythms of speech.

Delving into experiences of violence and gentleness, of alienation and love, his poetry reveals our shared humanity as well as our perplexing and sometimes entertaining differences. The autobiographical threads are interwoven with fantasies, an astute historical consciousness, and a keen awareness of the shiftings and transformations of selfhood.

He has long been one of Canada's most-read and -beloved poets. Now the true range of his poetic genius is available in a single volume.